Micro invasive surgery has a goal of minimizing the amount of damage caused during surgery. Some surgical procedures, for example, can be obviated by using an endoscope through a small incision. The size of the incision, therefore, depends on the size of the endoscope. One important feature of an endoscope, therefore, is its size. Since many endoscopes require a separate light guide, this increases the size of the endoscope.
Current endoscopes often use some type of illumination bundles or light guides to couple light to a site of viewing. The site of viewing is then imaged by appropriate receiving of the coupled light that is reflected by the area of the viewing site.
The present application describes a system that eliminates the need for a separate light guide and thereby reduces the requisite probe dimensions for a desired image size. Like current endoscopes, endoscopes using this new technique are safe to introduce into the human body for use in minimally invasive surgery. One application of this device is in the area of root canal procedures in dentistry, although this system could similarly be used in other kinds of surgery.
International Patent Application No. WO 91/15793, by Acosta, et al., discloses an endoscope in which light is transmitted to and from an anatomical site. One embodiment of the Acosta, et al. endoscope includes a plastic optical fiber assembly in which light is transmitted to the distal end of the endoscope along the periphery of the fiber assembly itself. Imaging light is transmitted back to the proximal end through a central multi-fiber bundle.
Another embodiment of the Acosta, et al. application discloses a plastic optical fiber assembly in which illuminating light is directed through a predetermined portion of the multi-fiber bundle. The balance of the bundle is dedicated to transmitting imaging light.
An alternative embodiment of the Acosta, et al. Application described an endoscope in which a beam splitter directs light across the entire face of the multi-fiber bundle. The returning imaging light is also transmitted through the entire cross-sectional area of the bundle through the beam splitter to a viewing portion of the endoscope, which is proximal to the beam splitter.